Photo: Charlotte Schober, former chair of the Union College Nursing Program and public health nurse; Vinita Sauder, President of Union College;Bud Synhorst, President of the Lincoln Independent Business Association; Pat Lopez, Director of the Lincoln-Lancaster County Health Department; and Kristine Follett, Union College nursing faculty.

Union College is proud to honor the Lincoln-Lancaster County Health Department with the Community Partnership Award.

The award was presented at the ninth annual Community Appreciation Breakfast held at Union College on Tuesday, February 8, 2022. Union gives the award to recognize a local business, foundation or organization’s steadfast dedication in helping the college accomplish its mission—to create a personal, student-focused community, which empowers students for a lifetime of learning, service and leadership.

The Lincoln-Lancaster County Health Department’s mission is to protect and promote the public’s health in Lincoln and Lancaster County through community health services, dental and nutritional services, animal control, environmental public health, health promotion and outreach, and public health informatics and planning. 

While the ongoing pandemic brought a great deal of attention to the department’s role in managing infectious diseases, Union College nursing professor Kristine Follett nominated their team for this award long before COVID became a household buzzword.

As Follett shared with event attendees, the Lincoln-Lancaster County Health Department has helped Union educate students for more than 40 years. “I have been teaching our Population Health and Disaster Nursing courses and had the privilege of working closely with many of my Lincoln-Lancaster County Health Department friends to facilitate meaningful learning experiences for our students while serving the community together,” she explained.

Here are some highlights Follett recounted:

• As far back as the 1980s, Union nursing students partnered with health department nurses to hold health screening and education clinics, car seat safety training and more.
• Senior public health nurses speak to students about health department services and facilitate home visit experiences for nursing students.
• Health department staff provide a health screening booth as part of the Union College foot care clinic at Project Connect.
• The health department creates student observation opportunities at the department’s Sexual Health Clinic as well as Animal Control and the Women Infants and Children (WIC) clinic.
• Thurman Hoskins, Disease Investigator Specialist; and Kathy King, an Environment Health Specialist, have been guest lecturers at Union for many years.
• Health department interpreters partner with our students for family home visits at no cost to the school.
• Emergency preparedness personnel have provided guest lectures and teamed up with Union’s Nursing and International Rescue and Relief programs for community training events.
• Tim Timmons, a communicable disease expert, has been a consultant to Union in developing campus emergency response plans—most recently in response to COVID.

“We’ve had a long, successful partnership, and while students gain great experiences working with the health department, I have to say that the health department gains from the students’ experience as well,” said Pat Lopez, director of the Lincoln-Lancaster County Health Department as she accepted the award. 

“My staff say they find Union College student nurses to have public health hearts. They are nurtured to recognize the importance of meeting people where they are at. These students represent the field of nursing well and I must give great credit to their instructors. I also believe the students reflect the mission of the college that empowers students for a lifetime of learning, service and leadership.”

For Union’s Nursing Program, the partnership remains as strong today as ever. “This morning a Population Health and Disaster Nursing clinical group is at the health department facilitating visits to provide health assessment and teaching to the most vulnerable in our community, and later today, some of our students will rotate through the Sexual Health Clinic,” Follett said. “We are so fortunate and thankful for all the Lincoln-Lancaster County Health Department does and the ways they include our students in their extraordinary work to promote and protect the health of all in our community.”

Union College also honored two other community supporters at the event. Dr. David Hage, a researcher in the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s Department of Chemistry was presented the Valued Partner Award by Union chemistry faculty Carrie Wolfe for providing summer research opportunities for Union students in his laboratory. 

Mic Ray, owner of Empire Electric, also received the Valued Partner Award for volunteering himself and his crew during a recent renovation of rooms in the women’s residence hall.

The Community Appreciation Breakfast was hosted by Union College supporters Bud Synhorst, President of the Lincoln Independent Business Association and J. Hoffman, Director of Community and Provider Relations for the Nebraska Heart Institute and Heart Hospital.

Previous Community Appreciation Award recipients include Lincoln Public Schools, Bryan Health, Capital and Eastern Nebraska Chapter of the American Red Cross, People’s City Mission and Union Bank & Trust.

Thanks to the Lincoln Independent Business Association for sponsoring the solid crystal award.